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The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world. Major brands are exploiting garment workers and harming the environment in the production of shoes and clothing. However, there has been a rise in sustainable fashion brands, making everything from sportswear to underwear who are putting people and the planet before profit.

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As food & drink prices continue to rise across the world, it is often the producers and workers who are losing out to big corporations. We shine a light on the food sovereignty movement pushing for a fairer food system that supports local business and we comment on the rise of veganism.

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Many of the issues from our homes & garden are often hidden from the consumer, from toxic chemicals in our cleaning products to pesticides in our garden. We look at the greenest way to wash, clean and cook and how to recycle your old appliances.

The mainstream banking & insurance industries continue to invest in shady investments such as fossil fuels and nuclear weapons. However, a growing number of ethical alternatives makes it easier than ever to switch to a sustainable bank account or pick an insurance company with an ethical policy.

We look at shops or online platforms that sell a range of products, and how they tend to dominate the market by implementing a profit-first business model and by having a lacklustre approach to ethical practice. We also celebrate ethical companies offering an alternative, from online retailers to sustainable fashion brands.

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The tech sector is plagued by reports of tax avoidance, corporate lobbying and the use of conflict minerals. We look at the brands proving that technology can be made ethically, from Fairphone to Green ISP.

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Are you a lover of the outdoors? Unfortunately the companies that provide your outdoor gear & transport are often harming the environment; from car companies cheating emission tests to outdoor gear companies using toxic chemicals that damage the environment. We provide practical information for consumers on how to keep your ethics while you travel.

The Trees for Life Committee targets young families, starter farmers, small farmers, women farmers and, farmers who have recently cultivated lands that have been impacted by the Israeli wall or have been subject to field or trees destruction by the Israeli military.

In 2018 more than 22,646 saplings have been distributed to over 257 farmers in 22 villages in the West Bank. This is up from 250 farmers in 2017 when around 14000 saplings were donated. The UK made the single largest donation to the scheme of over £29,135 through Zaytoun, the UK co-ordinating solidarity body.

Why do we need the Trees for Life program?

Over the last decade, some Palestinian farmers have been left with nothing as their crops have been demolished and their land taken for Israeli settlements. Young and small farmers have found it particularly difficult to establish and expand their land.

The Trees for Life program helps to establish a relationship between Palestinian farmers and the fair trade movement. Grassroots solidarity organisations around the world have raised funds for the purchase of thousands of seedlings. Since the program started in 2016, the number of farmers participating has significantly grown from 129 in the first year, to 257 in 2018. A total of 3,154 farmers have benefited from the program over the years.

Report from Mohamed, a farmer in the West Bank

Mohamed Al Weshahi is a farmer from the village of Telfeet near Jenin. He has more than 510 productive olive trees on his land; Mohamed is considered a full-time real farmer. His family owns a large flock of goats and sheep, and every morning his wife and his mother do the milking of the animals. The milk is processed and produces a high quality traditional white cheese and yogurt which is sold every day directly to the people in the area and nearby villages.

Every day he brings his tools and visits his farm to do the daily agricultural practices such as weeding, pruning and ploughing. Since 2014 when he joined the Fair Trade program, Mohamed has been selling his organic certified olive oil through PFTA to Canaan Fair Trade company (CFT).

He believes that all Palestinian farmers, even the farmers who are not registered in the PFTA programs, benefit from fair trade; he says “simply every year CFT export large quantities of our olive oil to the international fair trade markets and so the farmers of the PFTA have a direct benefit from this because they market their production, and also this process gives better opportunities for the other farmers who are not registered in the PFTA to market their production in the local Palestinian market with better prices”.

This planting season Mohamed received 100 olive saplings from the PFTA after he applied to the Trees for Life program. He hopes these trees will start producing in the next couple of years which means increasing his income and also this will help in cementing his attachment to his land, while Israel tries to uproot this attachment in Palestine.

Also of interest

Gifts that are created with love and thought, gifts to combat consumerism and save the planet, gifts to spread the word about an ethical lifestyle and gifts that will probably save you quite a bit of money too. It’s the Ethical Consumer Top Ten Alternative Christmas Gifts Guide.